Tangled Intersections by Eva LeFoy Read Free Book Online

hadn’t moved five feet when the
station lurched. Normally, Nidi turned at a measured rate. Always
cooling and always heating, it spared itself extra work by using a
simple engineering feat. Spinning. Keeping mobile didn’t allow the
heat to excel in any one area, and allowed the coolers a little
less hardship. If need be, the station could turn on the stellar
drive and move farther away, which is what they’d had to do
annually, as Mira Tri Lucius grew warmer. But he hadn’t received
any notice a ship move was imminent. Worse, it felt as though it
had stopped moving entirely. A bad feeling sank low in his gut. A
blink later, the lights went out.
    Emergency generators
roared to life, shaking the walls. Along the floors, banks of tiny
green lights flickered on. They cast enough glow to guide his way,
but the ale-green hue knotted his stomach. Grison couldn’t help but
find it a bad omen. No, not this
again.
    From behind him came a call, soft and
sing-song. “Oh, Rister. Risterrrr.”
    He spun around in time to catch a
flash of metal glinting off a very long blade. With a whoosh the
vision vanished, sliding behind the corner out of sight. His heart
skidded to a halt. When it pumped again, it hurried through the
motion and beat in double time. Grison knew what he had seen even
if it were impossible. Swallowing his trepidation, he backed the
way he’d come one shaky step at a time. Only when he reached the
intersection did he allow himself to turn around and scurry
forward. He still had two more floors to go to reach the docking
bay. Walking them backwards wouldn’t get him there any
faster.
    Running full-tilt, he passed no one.
Met no one in the deck-to-deck lift. Saw no one when he stepped off
of it and onto the docking bay floor. Even the wall screens were
off, though some flickered in apparent protest of their non-use. As
far as Grison could see, the bay doors stood open, and nobody was
home.
    His fingers itched for a knife. Any
knife as long as it was sharp. He needed something to carry, to
make him feel safe. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he
walked hesitantly past the first bay and peeked inside. If there
was a ship docked, it too, was playing dead. A dark gaping
blackness peered back at him and silence. All was
silent.
    He tried the next one, and
the next, traveling ever farther down the dim hall. At every
opening he stopped and looked, then kept going. He didn’t have the
courage to step into the void. Darkness wasn’t like light. Bright
luminosity, it washed you clean but shade, it wrenched the soul
from under your skin. Grison shivered, wrapped his arms around
himself and paused. I should go back.
There isn’t anyone here.
    “ Oh yes there
issssss.”
    Grison’s scream caught in his throat,
trapping his air, too. With the hairs on his neck and arms standing
on end, he turned just his head so he could see, and
shuddered.
    He’s not green. He’s
black.
    He’s green!
    His clothes are
green.
    No, they’re
red.
    The scream worked its way clear and
emerged from his lips as a tortured groan for help. But there was
no one around to offer him aid. His face flushed and his mouth went
dry. Fear rattled his ribcage so badly each breath trembled. He
licked his lips, but his voice came out a whisper. “What… are …
you—”
    “ Going somewhere, doctor?”
Again, the flash of a long steel blade caught his attention. “I
suggest you run.”
    He didn’t waste time debating the
reality of the command. Grison ran for his life. He kept going
until he reached the end of the corridor, then turned right as it
was his only option. This led into a dead-end harboring banks of
lifts. He pressed the button and stepped into one. The doors
slammed shut around the tip of a blade. He’d cut it close. The
creature had been almost upon him. One more second and…
    Grison sank to the floor whimpering,
arms wrapped around himself to stop the wracking tremors. It’s
hunting me. It’s trying to kill me. Why? Why? What